We came back to Long Island Breeze. I am doing the banking I needed to do on the first of the month, Bud got water again. I took a picture this time of Bud under the dock in the dinghy getting water. At the end of the dock is the Bahama Raider, a fishing boat that was taking on 1000 gallons of non-potable water that they use on the boat during fishing trips. An older man was on shore near the dock and I said hello. He was Harry Harding, and it was his boat, though his sons now operate it. He's been fishing here for 34 years in that boat. It's a fiberglass boat and still looks pretty good. They go out on the banks for lobsters. They have 6 small boats they tow and 12 divers. They free-dive, it's against the law to use SCUBA gear to take fish in the Bahamas. I understand they often go down over 20 feet for them. Mr. Harding said they wash the lobsters with salt water and freeze them right on the boat.

We were going to do the laundry, but during the cruiser's net this morning they announced that the laundry list was full for the day. We didn't realize there was a laundry list. When we came in we asked about getting on the list, but they are not sure when they will open the laundry again because right now there are no water deliveries.

While we're here I'm updating the blog. Our plans to go to the Jumentoes are on hold for a bit. It turns out that we missed our window to catch the tide right to make it through the Comer Passage. The next opportunity will be around February 10, 11 or 12. So we are now planning to leave Sunday and go north to Cat Island for a day or so and then come back down to get ready for the Jumentoes. Another boat heard us asking Chris Parker (the weather guru) about the sea state for a passage up to Cat. They called us on the VHF and asked about sailing up there with us. We're delighted to have another boat along, so will firm up the plans with them.

It works out because we do need to do the wash before we go. We may rent a car and take our laundry to another laundromat we've heard about.

Also while we were here the mail boat came to Salt Pond. It's a pretty big deal. Bud took some pictures which I'll add to the gallery. Keep in mind when you look at them that the channel here is about 6 feet deep at low tide!

I didn't write an entry yesterday. We had a very quiet day. We ran the generator and vacuumed the boat. I read; a lot. In the afternoon a couple in a dinghy came by to say that they were organizing a social for this afternoon at 4 PM; bring drinks and some kind of food to share. They said there really hadn't been any get together except the football play-off party, which was too many people to meet everyone. Now that there were fewer boats in the harbor they thought it would be nice to get folks together again.

There are fewer boats now, there were only four boats at this end of the harbor that morning, then one boat left and two more came in. Another couple of boats came in this morning, including the folks on the other Norseman. I called them on the radio this afternoon to tell them about the social, then Anne, on Camelot, who organized the social put out a general announcement.

In the end I think there were about 16 people who came. There is a complex of buildings just south of the Long Island Breeze Resort and the government dock that is used for the island regatta and cultural days. It's sort of the Bahamian version of a county fairgrounds. In any case, on one end is a covered deck with benches around it and a big table in the middle and that's where we met. Another boater was taking a picture of the gathering, which reminded me to take a picture, so when I get back to the Internet again I'll post it.

We had our usual nice time. I talked for a while to Francie, on Barefootin', the other Norseman. They have been cruising for 10 years. At first they thought they would circumnavigate, but at the time they started people were having trouble with pirates, even around some of the northern Caribbean Islands. Then they met cruisers who had been all around the Caribbean, and even into the Pacific and said the Bahamas were the best place to cruise they had been. We met someone who said that last year, they had come from Europe. So Bob and Francie have been cruising the Bahamas for the 10 years they've been aboard. I don't know what we'll do long term, but I know there are tons of places we have yet to see in the Bahamas and it is nice to be in a place that can be both very remote, and yet still close to the States.

Poor Fuzzy is still having trouble. He was up again a good part of the night last night. We gave him extra Prozac again and may even need to add Valium (again the vet said it was safe to do that). We hate to over medicate him, but it's so pathetic when he just stands and stares at things and you try to hold and comfort him and you can't, he just trembles in your arms and tries to get away. Then he goes and stands and stares again. I think at the very least we will consistently give him one tablet of Prozac a day, instead of the half tablet he's been on.

I was pretty excited for a while today because I thought I was going to be able to enter a new position for the blog. That didn't happen, and I'll get to that later, but we ended up having a pretty full day, for us.

It started out with a bad night for Fuzzy. he ended up sleeping out in the salon and spent a part of the night pacing. By 6 AM he was pretty agitated again. We gave him another half pill, then Bud took him to shore. It wasn't even full daylight yet. Fuzzy did need to go to the bathroom rather badly. When Bud got him back he started to settle down. We're not sure if it was the extra half pill or just that he was exhausted from his night of pacing, but he was more than calm.

The weather predicted fairly light wind for today and tomorrow. Bud thought we should take advantage of the light wind and lay in some more water. While we were at it we decided to get a load of wash done and buy some produce. The mail boat was in at Clarence Town late Thursday, so stores here got their supplies yesterday. After the cruiser's net here (where I did make an announcement about Mr. Pinder's vegetables) we got things together and went to Long Island Breeze. Most of the boats in the harbor had left and we were the only ones at the resort when we got there. Bud got two loads of water from Long Island Petroleum while I did the wash. Getting the water was a trip in itself. We took our 50 foot collapsible hose so we could hook up to their spigot inside their fence and fill the jugs outside the fence and save a lot of walking around. However, they now have the water working on the dock. Their dock was damaged in Hurricane Irene. The water works, the only problem is, most of the deck of the dock is still missing. If Bud couldn't manage to fill the jugs from the dinghy I'd have to balance on the side frame to walk out past the missing sections of dock. Bud brought the dinghy right under the dock. He could stand up and reach through the missing deck and hook our hose tot he spigot and operate the lever. 50 feet of collapsible, fabric hose was a bit hard to manage in the dinghy. Once he laid it out in circles around the dinghy so it wouldn't kink he managed to use it.

While the clothes were drying I tried calling our daughter on Skype. Happily, I got her, and with no one else using the Internet, Skype was working great. I finally had a nice long talk. How I've missed it! Bud came back and had a chance to talk to her, too. We ordered a pizza from Long Island Breeze for lunch and while that was getting ready I called my brother. Bud and I both got to talk to him, too. After lunch Bud went across the street for groceries and I called my Mom. What a treat. Bud came back because he'd left his wallet with me, so I went back to pay for the groceries and he called his Mom. For some reason he wasn't able to talk to her. Either other people (who had come in by then) were on the Internet, or her phone wasn't working or something. Anyway, it was after 1 PM by then, so we took our stuff and went back to the boat.

On the way back Bud suggested we weigh anchor and move 5 miles or so south to an area called Grey's Bight. There was supposed to be an OK anchorage there, and there is a blue hole that's about 35 feet deep in an area or water less than a meter deep. We wanted to take the dinghy and snorkel there. So we woke up Fuzzy (who was sleeping), took him ashore, got everything ready and took off. By then it was going on 2:30. Since it wasn't that far we put out the jib and sailed down. The wind was light but we were doing about 5.5 knots with just the jib. The last leg was due east, almost directly into the wind, so we took in the sail and motored in. The Chartbook advised "holding varies, look for patch of sand". So I had the anchor hanging off the bow roller ready to drop as we headed into the area. There was one trawler (we think it was Saranade, the boat belonging to the authors of the Explorer Chartbooks). There were also a few fishing boats up there. We didn't want to get too close to them, for one thing, it was likely to be too shallow for us up there. We looked for sand, but everywhere seemed to be the same, sand with rocks here and there. We tried a likely looking place and the anchor wouldn't set, so we hauled it up and tried again. We went a bit to port, I thought the sand looked better there, but again, once you got near it all looked the same, and again, the best looking spot we saw didn't have enough sand to hold. Bud wanted to try over towards a sand beach to starboard. I was concerned because I knew it got shallow there (actually, it got shallow a long ways from shore in every direction, the whole trip down we hadn't been in more than 12 feet of water). Anyway, we decided to give it one last try and if that didn't work we'd go back. We tried, Bud backed off and the anchor held, but he only pushed it to 2000 RPM in reverse, and he usually does more. Before we set the snubber we quickly got in the dinghy with the viewing bucket and went to check the anchor. The Rocna had tried. The tip was dug in about a foot, but it wasn't what I would call set. Bud asked if I just wanted to lay out a bunch more chain and call it good, since there wasn't supposed to be much wind tonight. I did not. I think we're a bit obsessive, but after going through a 50 knot storm last year when the forecast said there was "no energy" in the atmosphere, my policy is to be prepared for the worst. So we hauled the anchor back up and motored as fast as we could right back to where we were. We went 14.87 nautical miles and we think we're about 50 feet north of the spot we left.

Fuzzy was sleeping again, so we woke him up and fed him supper. By the time we took him to shore it was getting dark. We've been seeing crabs swimming in this water, some as large as about 6 inches across the body. We also saw a shark in about 2 feet of water swimming along the shore. It was probably a harmless nurse shark and it was under 3 feet, but it was still a shark. So it was with some care that I waded out pulling the dinghy to get to water deep enough to use the engine. I was up to about my knees when suddenly something bumped against my leg. I let out a yelp and did a little dance only to turn and see the paddle that Bud had prodded me with that he'd dropped in the water. Ha, ha, Bud. I guess it was an appropriate ending to a weird day.

I added photos to the other entries this morning. I know I took at least one picture today, but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, Long Island Breeze is closed tomorrow and Monday, so no photos until Tuesday. I just added this photo of the store with its Christmas decorations still up along the top of the overhang.

It was windy again today and Bud's heel is still sore so we were staying aboard this morning. We decided we'd better tackle trimming Fuzzy. Bud started while I was doing the dishes. Then I came over and helped to hold him. We got his top poof trimmed, his feet his ears, and some of his legs. That was about it. He does look better, though Bud didn't shave his face, so his ears are short but his face is still a bit shaggy and that looks a bit odd.

I wanted to take a walk this afternoon, but Bud didn't want to do three dinghy trips because the water was getting so rough. In the end, Fuzzy started to show some signs of distress, so about 3:30 we decided we had to take him in. Bud agreed to come back to the boat with Fuzzy and let me stay on shore. I would then call on the hand-held VHF when I was ready to come back, by then Fuzzy would have eaten and would be ready for his evening visit ashore. I decided to see what was up the little road that led around the north side of Thompson Bay and out towards Indian Hole Point. It isn't much of a road, just a dirt lane. I will put a couple of photos in the gallery, one of the larger part of the lane, where there are some houses and one bar/restaurant, and one of the end of the road, past the houses, where it is literally just two tracks through the sand and rock. It was about a mile and a half to the end where the road curved down to the edge of the bay. I took a couple of photos there, including this self portrait using the timer on the camera.

The entire time I was walking out there I didn't see anyone. As I turned to leave I saw another woman quite a ways down the shore picking her way along the rocks. I waved to her as I left by the road. Not long after I reached the "busy" part of the road a car passed me headed out, like I was. I was surprised because I thought I'd only come by one house so far. It was a Bahama Electric Company car and the man waved as he passed. About a half mile later another car passed, also headed out. This was a couple in an SUV and they stopped, put down their window and said hello.

Finally, as I got close to the path over to the beach, an older black man in a van drove in. He also stopped. I went a few steps back to where he stopped and he introduced himself. "Hi, I am Mr. Stanley Pinder and I sell vegetables." He pronounced all four syllables, ve-ge-ta-bles. He told me he figured I was a cruiser and just wanted to let the cruisers know that he had vegetables. He said he was the only one around here who grew vegetables and he sold to the Hillside Store and to Stella Maris Resort. He had some in his truck, which he showed me. He had a beautiful bunch of bok choy, which I admired. He said he was taking it to a friend. He tried to describe where he was located. I told hem we'd definitely come by. He offered me the other bunch of bok choy he had, even though I had no money with me. He said it was $2.00 for the bunch. I told him I'd bring the money over when we came to look at the rest of his produce (finding local produce is a big deal). I then tried to clarify where he was. I asked him if I needed to go left or right at the main road if I was to walk there from where we were. "Oh, you can't walk there, it's too far." Said he. I told him I didn't have a car, so I'd better not take his bok choy because I probably couldn't get to his place to pay him. But he insisted that I take it. "Just eat it and enjoy it and let the other people on the boats know about me." So I will.

And that is what the people are like here. I was walking along in a place that looked desolate and felt perfectly safe and in fact, everyone I met was friendly and in the case of Mr. Pinder, beyond friendly, kind and generous. That's the Bahamas and aside from the weather, the gorgeous water and the beautiful beaches, it's full of beautiful people.

Our day began as usual. I took the time and water today to shower. I didn't use too much water, we haven't run the engine or the generator in days and the water was cold! I got pretty clean, anyway. After we took Fuzzy ashore we listened as usual to the Cruiser's Net on the VHF radio here.

We were surprised to learn that Sara and Monty Lewis are here at Thompson Bay and were giving a talk on updates to the Explorer Chartbooks. The Explorer Chartbooks are the Bible for the Bahamas. Very few people sail without them. Monty and Sara are the principal authors. So we loaded up two of our three Chartbooks (the one for the Far Bahamas and the one for the Exumas and Ragged Islands) and our computer and headed in to the Long Island Breeze, which was hosting the talk. Not only are Sara and Monty here, but two other couples who do research for them and contribute writing and photography for the chartbooks were also there. Wow, I was pretty impressed. Bud got to talk to one of the men for a while after the talk and asked him about the passage to the Jumentoes and the Ragged Islands. That's a chain we'd like to visit if we get a good weather window. The main channel leading to them from here isn't even on our electronic charts. It is well marked on the Explorer Charts and I guess it's quite wide and not a problem as long as we stage our trip "on the top half of a rising tide". A lot of people won't buy new Raymarine chartplotters if they are coming to the Bahamas because they use Navionics electronic charts instead of C-Maps, and C-Maps uses the data from the Explorer Chartbooks. That's how good these books are.

The man Bud was talking to and his wife who are contributing authors are a couple we had met the other day on the beach with their dog. You just never know. We meet people who have been cruising for 20 years or more (like them) and people who are down here for the first time (like the couple we sat next to at the talk). Everyone shares and everyone treats each other with respect. It's a pretty nice community of people.

We would have like to stay for lunch, but we had Fuzzy back on the boat, so we came back right after the talk. It's probably close to a mile from the dock at Long Island Breeze to the north end of Thompson Bay where we are anchored. The wind was pretty brisk today, and has moved a bit south of east, so it was blowing across quite a fetch of water by the time it got to our part of the bay. It was rough enough to make the dinghy ride a bit difficult. Also, Bud has a sore heel that is making it hard for him to walk, and makes climbing the ladder from the boat to the dinghy painful. So he waited in the dinghy while I unloaded the charts and the computer and got Fuzzy and we took the dinghy the quarter mile further north to the beach. While we were there a trimaran came sailing in to the bay. He tacked and sailed back through all the anchored boats. I got a picture of him sailing near where Earendil is anchored. I'll post it when I next take the computer ashore for Internet.

We stayed aboard the rest of the day, only going off the boat once more at sunset (after I blew the conch horn salute) to take Fuzzy in for his last visit of the day. I know Bud is getting restless, but we have banking that needs to be done on the internet on the first of the month, and there is no internet in the Jumentos or the Ragged Islands, so we'll have to wait until then to make that trip, if the weather holds.

Hi guy's
We see all is well with the three of you. If you get to the lower islands and run across Bill and Christy on S/V "Veranda" tell them we said Hi. They have a small gray terrier and the boat has a hard dodger.
Never met him but they have helped us out many times through the years on our blog
Take care and be safe

A Cruiser's Day

Jill01/25/2012, Thompson Bay, Long Island

I thought I might tell you what our "typical" day is, since right now we're just hanging around Thompson Bay, Long Island. I still don't sleep in. A late morning for me is 6:30; I'm more likely to be up by 5:30. I start the coffee, when we're on the hook we make it in a little stovetop percolator. It only makes about three mugs, usually on or the other of us just has one. By 6:30 Bud is up. We tune into the SSB radio to hear the latest weather run-down by Chris Parker. Chris does weather forecasting for the whole Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and Caribbean area. At 6:30 is his Bahama net. It usually starts 10 or 15 minutes late, because after his forecast he takes specific requests for information from "subscribing" boats. At 6 AM he does a net for part of the Caribbean, and they usually run over. Anyway, we're subscribers this year, but so far we've only listened and received his email reports, we've never asked for information. Usually we get what we need by listening to the general report and listening to other boats.

Today, Bud took Fuzzy ashore after the weather. I still hadn't eaten breakfast. I ate breakfast and then washed and got dressed. Most days I take a "sponge bath" in the morning. Water is a real issue for us because our other maintenance things ran so over budget that we didn't install a water maker as we had hoped. We carry about 120 gallons of water in our tanks and have 4 5-gallon jerry jugs that we also fill. This week we've used about 30 gallons since Friday morning, so we figure we can go about 2 weeks (with a safety margin) on the water we carry.

Mornings I clean the boat up (make up the berth, so the dishes, pick things up) and Bud usually starts a small project. If the project isn't so small I get involved in that once the other stuff is done. Today Bud epoxied a setscrew to one of our ventilation cowlings. These cowling are like hoods over two vents in our salon. They can be turned either towards the wind, or away from wind and spray as needed. The setscrew holds them in place, and one of the setscrews had broken off. Bud constructed a housing for the setscrew with Marine Tex and then epoxied that back on the cowling. It' seems to have worked.

We also deployed the awning again today. There's quite a bit of wind, but we thought it would still be OK to put it out. It really helps to keep the cockpit cool, which in turn keeps the companionway and the interior cool.

After lunch we decide if we want to go somewhere or do something. Today we decided to come over to Long Island Breeze for the Internet and Bud took the water jugs to Long Island Petroleum for water. 20 gallons of water cost $6.00. Not a bad price for this area. The only problem is there's nowhere to bring the boat up to fill the tanks, so all the water we need will have to be hauled aboard in jugs. That's likely to be the case until we go back to the Georgetown area and the Marina at Emerald Bay. Bud took the water and Fuzzy back to the boat to give me a chance to come inside and get the Internet, because I couldn't get it as I sometimes can down in the breeze-way where Fuzzy is allowed. I took a photo of Bud landing the dinghy here. You can see the deck and the pool, with the dinghy dock beyond.

I need to wind this up so we can finish up at the store and get back to the boat, so I'll post this now. Later we'll feed Fuzzy, take him ashore and eat dinner. Most days I salute sunset with the conch horn. After supper I usually read and Bud soon goes to bed. That's our day.

120 gallon holding tank + 20 gallons in jerry jugs = 1120 pounds of fresh water you are hauling around. If you had a watermaker, I'm guessing you would only need a small emergency supply for when the watermaker breaks. It sure would be nice to have that watermaker. You would probably sail .5 knts faster, and get better fuel mileage, without all that water. And, you wouldn't have to lug jerry jugs ashore to purchase water of dubious potability.